Where Long-Term Capital Meets Europe’s Innovation Frontier
Strategic infrastructure for Europe, mission capital, and our new Monte Carlo Simulation tool
Hi friends 👋
This week’s edition explores the intersection of capital, systems, and the institutions quietly shaping Europe’s next chapter.
First up is the upcoming Pension Capital Dialogues on April 21, part of our new event series bringing Europe’s leading pension funds into direct conversation with the tech ecosystem. Taking place the day before our flagship summit in London, the forum creates a trusted setting where pension leaders and venture investors can openly explore allocation strategies, barriers, and opportunities connecting long-term institutional capital with Europe’s innovation frontier.
Also in this issue: a preview of the VC Monte Carlo Simulator, a new resource currently being tested with our Fund Modelling Cohort. Their feedback is helping refine the tool ahead of a wider release, with EUVC Academy members receiving the first beta access.
Turning to Europe’s industrial transition, the latest episode of Leaders Shaping a Resilient Planet features Dr Lilian Schwich, Co-Founder and Co-CEO, cylib, alongside Carmel Rafaeli, Founding Partner at The Table. The conversation explores why battery recycling is becoming strategic infrastructure for Europe. As gigafactories scale, one capability remains underdeveloped: refining metallurgy, the step that converts battery scrap into high-purity raw materials.
Finally, a look at a new model for healthcare innovation: charities investing directly in startups. We speak with Helen McShane of Young Lives vs Cancer and Zoe Peden, Partner at impact venture firm Ananda, about how mission capital, specifically small investments combined with deep institutional expertise, can help founders navigate complex healthcare systems and bring solutions to patients faster.
Hope you enjoy,
with 💖
David & Andreas
The Pension Capital Dialogues are a new events series bringing Europe’s leading pension funds into direct conversation with the continent’s tech ecosystem. Each gathering combines the discretion needed for candid exchange with the inspiration that comes from being immersed in Europe’s most vibrant arenas of innovation.
Virtual | Wednesday, March 18 | 02:00 PM - 04:00 PM GMT
If you’re building or managing a venture fund, your returns are shaped long before the exits happen. In this advanced 2-hour online masterclass, you’ll sharpen your ability to design, stress-test, and optimise your portfolio through better construction and decomposition.
You’ll learn how to structure entry and follow-on strategies, track capital deployment over time, simulate write-offs and exits, and model key performance metrics like TVPI, DPI, RVPI, and NAV with greater precision. We’ll focus on practical decision-making, real-world trade-offs, and dynamic asset valuation—so you can assess whether your strategy is truly set up to deliver.
Ideal for emerging fund managers, established VCs, family office and CVC professionals, and active HNIs who want to strengthen their fund modelling and make more informed portfolio decisions.
Table of Contents
Insights of the Week
Podcasts of The Week
Serving Europe’s Builders with Live Announcements
Events and Community Gatherings
Insights of the Week
VC Monte Carlo Simulator
Get a sneak peek at the VC Monte Carlo Simulator, a new resource currently being tested with our Fund Modelling Cohort. We’re refining it with their feedback before releasing it publicly. EUVC Academy members will get first beta access.
Podcasts of the Week
Dr Lilian Schwich, cylib on Europe’s Battery Recycling Gap
Europe’s climate transition will ultimately be decided by industrial sovereignty.
In the latest Leaders Shaping a Resilient Planet episode, Dr Lilian Schwich, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of cylib, joins Carmel Rafaeli, Founding Partner at The Table, and our very own Andreas Munk Holm to dive deep into why battery recycling is becoming a foundational capability for Europe’s industrial future.
Europe’s battery ecosystem is expanding rapidly. But one critical step remains underdeveloped: refining metallurgy, the process that converts battery scrap and black mass into high-purity raw materials that gigafactories can actually use.
Without it, the loop remains open and supply chains remain exposed.
Key insights
• Battery recycling is strategic infrastructure
• Europe still lacks refining capacity
• Industrial climate companies require complex capital stacks
Listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or queue it up with chapter markers ready to go.
Helen McShane, Young Lives vs Cancer and Zoe Peden, Ananda on Mission-Driven Capital: When a 60-Year-Old Frontline Charity Becomes an Investor
Healthcare startups rarely fail because of bad technology — they fail because the system won’t let them in.
In the latest EUVC episode, Andreas speaks with Helen McShane, who leads the Innovation Lab at Young Lives vs Cancer, and Zoe Peden, Partner at impact venture firm Ananda, about a new model for healthcare innovation: a charity investing directly in startups.
Through its Innovation Lab, Young Lives vs Cancer is deploying mission capital — small investments combined with deep institutional expertise — to help founders navigate complex healthcare systems.
Their first investment: £30k into Little Journey, a platform helping children prepare for hospital treatment.
Key ideas:
Why healthcare startups struggle with system adoption
What mission capital means in practice
How charities can de-risk innovation for founders
Listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or queue it up with chapter markers ready to go.
This Week in European Tech with Dan, Mads and Lomax
In this episode of Upside, Dan Bowyer and Mads Jensen of SuperSeed and Lomax Ward of Outsized Ventures unpack a week where energy shocks, AI acceleration, and European tech momentum collided all at once.
A disruption around the Strait of Hormuz raises the spectre of another inflation cycle just as Europe is already grappling with higher defence spending and fragile growth. At the same time, the economics of warfare are changing fast — with drones, software, and rapid iteration turning Ukraine into a real-time defence innovation lab.
And against that backdrop, Europe quietly delivered one of its strongest tech weeks in months: the continent’s first $1 billion AI seed round, new capital market integration proposals, and continued momentum across the European AI ecosystem.
Key insights:
• Energy shocks ripple directly into venture markets
• Ukraine is emerging as a defence innovation hub
• Europe just produced its first AI “Instacorn”
• World models may define the next AI frontier
• AI coding platforms face structural pressure from agents
• The AI chip war is expanding beyond Nvidia
• Europe may finally be moving toward unified capital markets
Listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or queue it up with chapter markers ready to go.
Serving Europe’s Builders with Live Announcements
Turbine raises $25M to bring “virtual cells” into drug discovery
Budapest-based biotech startup Turbine has raised a $25 million Series B to scale its AI-powered biological simulation platform. Instead of relying solely on lab experiments, Turbine’s technology creates “virtual cells” that allow scientists to simulate experiments digitally, helping researchers identify promising drug candidates faster. With partners including Bayer, AstraZeneca, and Merck, the company is now moving toward integrating its simulations directly into pharma workflows.
Andreas recently sat down with Turbine Co-founder and CEO Szabi Nagy to discuss the company’s mission and what the latest funding round means for the future of AI-driven drug discovery.
Events and Community Gatherings
Join The EUVC Summit 2026 | 22/04/2026, London
Europe’s builders take the stage.
The EUVC Summit returns with founders, operators, VCs, and LPs focused on one question: how Europe wins.
From what it really takes to build category-defining companies in Europe, to how capital, conviction, and long-term alignment must evolve to compete globally — this is a working room, not a trends conference.
[Webinar] Is Luxembourg right for you? | 18 March, 12-1PM CET, Online
Brought to you in partnership with Fundcraft, join leading fund managers and operators for a candid discussion on whether Luxembourg is the right jurisdiction for your fund. Our expert panel will break down the practical realities—from structuring and regulation to operations and scaling—to help you understand when Luxembourg makes sense and when it doesn’t. Expect real-world insights, clear trade-offs, and actionable takeaways for emerging and established fund managers alike.
Mont Blanc Retreat 2026 | 7 -10 May | Piedmont and Chamonix
Come spend a few days with us in the French and Italian Alps. In Piedmont and Chamonix, we’re hosting a small, carefully curated gathering with Paolo Pio (Exceptional Ventures) and Itxaso del Palacio (Notion Capital), bringing together a handful of thoughtful builders and investors for guided treks, long lunches, fireside conversations and time to recharge in the mountains. No panels and no pitches. Just good people, honest dialogue and space to reflect on the road ahead.
Private Off-Site for Corporate Venture Leaders | 11–14 May | Piedmont
Join our private, invitation-only off-site for corporate venture leaders and senior executives in the Piedmont region of Italy. Designed as a deliberate alternative to traditional conferences, the off-site brings together a small group of experienced leaders for thoughtful dialogue, peer exchange, and reflection.